People who use drugs (as classified by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 or the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016) may do in differing contexts for a range of purposes.

When people find themselves in situations that may cause them harm, they may be able to take action to protect themselves.

Sudden and unexpected increases in harm can occur when people are exposed to or at risk of being exposed to highly toxic potent substances with inadequate opportunities to reduce their risk of harm. NHS Boards can use public health incident management frameworks to reduce risk of immediate harm to individuals and communities.

The purpose of this document is to offer a working definition and a framework to consider risk management and risk response in the context of an emergent incident within a local area.

A secondary objective is to propose a means by which a cluster or incident can be identified and acted on prior to toxicological information becoming available.